Improvement in machines for priming metallic cartridges



TMTHY J. POWERS, 0F NEW'YORK, p d J. R. VAN' VECHTEN, SAME PLAGE.

4 inPsovEntNr N MACHINES ron Piumino Famine CARTRIDGES;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N055 7,259, dated August 14, 1866 y concern Beit known that t the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a. new and Improved Machine for Bepositing- Pruning in Cartridge-Shells,- and I do hereby declare that the 'ollown g is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accom panyi n formingi'part of th' reclaim am Of th v.posit-ing the fulmiuate e several rcontrivances in use for depriming'in the shells of #cartridges not one'iultills the requirements of safety and exact or approximate measure and deposit of quantity. e principal object of this invention is to andro this end a part d or semi-Huid requisite quantity, and

picks upthe epositthe same in the again descends to d cartridge-shell. 'l Another v part of arrangement, of operating the feeder, the priming-reservoir, :and a carrier or con trivance for certridges,one after the other,

other part of the invention `distribution of the fulminate priming around the head of the cartridge by centrifugal force produced by the spinning or rotary motion of the shell, and consists in commencing such spinning or rota the priming in the shell.

To enable othersskilled in the art to make and use my invention, will proceed to deto the feeder. relates to th,

scribe its construction and operation.

g which supports the A isa tableor framin I, Tmorny JfPowEns, of shaft of obtained through th produce( 'presenting the antedated July 31, 1866.

parts of the machine... the machine, arranged horizontally in suitable bearings in the framing, and carrying at one end the driving-pulley O, at the other end a bevel-gear, D, and near the middle of its working ing, above the table, a cylindrical grooved cam,

` by the continuous rotary motion ofwhich, e beveifgear from the shaft B, the ope'rtion of the cartridge-feeder I is [ge-feeder I, Figs. 1, 2, and 4, conhaving attached to its lowerend 'a small hollow cylinder, which is open at the bottom, and has openings a parts of its sides.

The cartrid sists of a rod the compound within it, through Athe openings a a, and when it is lifted up` slowly from the compound any excess beyond what'is .necessary to fill the part below the openings a a overtiows through the said openings and runs oi'; b

downward motion and the compound is caused discharge isv aided by the into the cartridge-shell.

ry motion before the depositof t .Another advautageof this feeder is that it try-comtes without friction, and

the apparatus. .Q

The feeder I is secured in anl upright position by a setlscrew, b, or otherm permits its Vertical adjustment in a socket .at

B is the maineans, which the 4end of an arm, J', which is secured to a slide, K,which is fitted t0 work up and down in suitable guides in. an upright standard, L, which is firmly secured on the top of the table A. The slide K has secured to it a stud, c,

which is received Ain the groove of the cam H, l

and upon which the said cam acts to produce the operation of the slide and attached feeder by which the feeder is made to take the fulminate compound from a reservoir, N, and deposit it into the cartridgelshells, which are arranged in upright positions in al rotary carrier, M. This operation of' the slide and feeder is assisted by a spring, S, connected with the slide by a rod, S.

The carrier M consists of' a horizontal circular wheel or disk having in its periphery a sesies of recesses or cavities. d d, of suitable sizes and forms andat equal distances apart `to receive the lcartridge-shells (shown in red outlinein Fig. 1) in npright'positions and with their mouths upward. The carrier thus constructed is arranged to rotate upon a fixed pivot, e, secured in the top of the table Ain such ppsition that the'intermittent rotary motion of the carrier may bring the. cartridgeshells, one after another, with their centers di rectly under the center of the feeder. The intermittent rotary motion of the carrier may be produced by any suitable means actuated by a cam on the main shaft B; but thesemeans I have ,not thought it necessary to show. V

l The reservoir N, containing the fuhninate priming, consists of a circular pan which is fitted to rotate concentrically upon pivot, f, secured in au arm, P, which vibrates horizontally above the tableA upon an upright shaft, Q,

to which it is fitted loosely enough to allow This shaft Q has rotary of its easy vibration. motion imparted toitby a belt or gearing (not shown) from the main shaft. B, and it is furnishedat its upper end with i' pulley, R, which transmits rotary motion to the pan N through an endless band, g, running in a groove in the periphery of the reservoir. This 'rotary motion of thereservoir is for the purpose of i keeping the fulminate priming stirred by means of a stirrer, h, secured rigidly to the arm- .P. The central socket, i, ofthe reservoir,

which tits the pivot f, is closed at the top, as shown in Fig. 1, to prevent the accidental cntrance from the pan of any of the fulminate priming which might explode by friction. The horizontal "vibrating motion of the arm P,

` by-which the .reservoir is brought under the feeder I to enable-thev latter to take up the charges of priming, and afterward moved ont of the way to enable thc feeder to descend into the cartridge-shells as they are presented under it one after the other, is produced in one direction by the' action of the cam E, before mentioned, upon a rigid4 downwardly-pra jecting portion, l". of the arm P, and in the other direction by means of a spring, T, which is attached to the framing of the machine and 'which keeps the said portion ll ofthe arm in contact with the cam.

of the cam is shown in bold outline, and on the4 other halfin dotted outlin'e. The said groove, commencing at l, near thetop of the cam, descends obliquely, as shown at m, Fig. 3, nearly half-way down t-he cam; thence runs for a short distance' horizontally, as shown at n in the same gure; thence rises obliquely, as shown at p, Eigs. l and 3, to the point s, near the top of the cam; thence again descends obliquely, as shown at g,'Figs. I and 3, nearly to the bottom of theca-m, asshown at t, and thence runs upward at a slight inclination, as shown atv, to the point'l, first mentioned, thus making the complete circuit of the cam.

When, in the operation of the machine, the stud c-of the feedenslide lK is at the point a of the groove of the cam H, and the slide K is raised high enough to bring the bottom of the feeder to a position above the upper edge of the reservoir, the reservoir remains stationary while the revolution of the cam permits the spring S to draw down thcslidc and dip the feeder into the priming, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and until by the farther revolution of the cam, the portion m of the groove has raised the slide high enough to permit the reservoir to pass out of the way of the feeder, which has -now taken up a'charge of priming. The spring T moves the reservoir aside outof the.way of the feeder bythe time the part l of the groove ofthe cani H has arrived opposite to the stud c, vand the feeder is raised to its highest position, and as the revolution of the latter cam continues with .the stud c, in the slightly inclined portion r of its groove, the spring S pulls down the slide K and feeder very rapidly, bringing the stud cto the bottom tof the groove with a smart concussion, by which the feeder is suddenly arrested in its descent and its charge of priming is, by its own momentum discharged into the eartridgeshell below7 it.

In the continued rotary motion of the cam H the portion r of its groove, by its action on the stud c, raises the slide K and the feeder, bring" ing the said stud to the pointsin the groove, preparatory to a repetition of the above-de scribed operation of the feeder and reservoir. lil/'hilevthe slide and feeder are being raised the reservoir is moved by the cam E to the position under the feeder as at first described and represented in Figs. l and 2, and before the stud c again arrives at the point l of the cam the cartridge-shell carrier has made a suficient movement to present another cartridge-shell underv the feeder for the reception of a charge. p

I will here remark that, instead of the priming-reservoir having a lateral movement, it may be made stationary, out of the way of the cartridge-shell carrier, and the feeder may have a lateral movement, by which it is first brought over the said reservoir and afterward over the carrier; but I at present believe the arrangement represented in the drawings tobe the best. l will further remark that instead of the cartridge-shell carrier having an intermittent rotary motion it may lia-re au intermittent rectilinear motion.

The menus of producing the rotary motion of the cartridge-shells about their own exis, while in the position in which they receive the priming from the feeder end before they receive the priming for the purpose of immediately distributing the priming around the flange or .internal periphery of-the headof the cartridge, are represented in vertical scctiou in Fig. 5 and in dotted outline in Fig. 2, and are also, in part, nepresented in Fig. l. They are as follows: u end o are horizontal wheels, the peripheries' of which are grooved to tit the exteriors of the flanged heads of the cartridge-shells. These wheels are so4 arranged aborethe table A that, as the shells are severally brought by the carrier M to the posit-ion for receiving the priming, their llanged heads, which' project below the carrier, are brought between the seid wheels with their flanges within and inciose contact with the grooves ot' the-seid wheels. The wheel u is firmly secured. on en upright spindle, U, which is arranged in suitable bearings, and on the lower part-of which there is a. pulley, U', ronnd which and round a pulley, Q', on the spindle Q, hereinbefore mentioned, there runs u benth'iudthrough which and the seid pulleys rotary motion is transmitted from the said spindle Q 'to the spindle U and wheel u, and the friction of the said wheel against the heed ot the cartridge-shell causes it to rotate about its own axis before and at the time that 'the priming is deposited wit-hin it. ln, this opera-tion the wheel c, which turns freely on e stud, n', attached to the table, merely serves as a rolling "bearing for the cartridge-shell to keep itin close to the wheel u and insure its rotary motion, being tured by the friction of the shell against it. The stud o may have :i spring applied, in connectiorfwith it, forthe purpose of pressing it against the cartridgeshells and insuring their Aproper contact with the friction of the driif'ing-wheel u.

By thus giving' the shell erotary or 'spinning motion while in the position in which it receives the priming and before it receives the priming, I ain enabled to insure a more perfectend uniform distribution oi' thc priming around the head of the shell.

Having thus described my invention, I- will proceed to state what I claim as my improvementend desire to secure by Letters Patentl. In a machine for depositing the fulminate primingin cartridge-shells,a feeder which descends into a box, Vessel, vor reservoir containing the primi-ng in fluid or semi-fluid` state, picks up the requisite quantity of priming therefrom, and again descends into or over the cartridge-shell to deposit the the priming therein, substantially as herein described.

2. Suddenly arrestingthe feeder in itsdev scent over or into the cartridge-shell, substantially as herein speciiied,^i`or the purpose of insuring the complete dischrge of the priming-therefrom.

'The combination of a feeder, a primingreservoir, and acartridge-shell carrier, operating substantially as herein specified.

et. Though I do not intend to claim broadly the distribution of the priming;l around the shell by centrifugal action, l claim commencing the rotary or spinning` motion of 'the shell about its airis before the deposit of the lpriming therein, substantially es and for the purpose herein described.

TIMOTHY J. POWERS.

Witnesses:

HENRY` T. BROWN, J. W. GooMBs. 

